


Rampage

by kitkatt0430



Series: Neighbors and Butterflies [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, David Singh needs at least two coffees before dealing with any of this, Eobard being creepy, Hartley is accidentally exposed to Roy's powers, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Roy suspects he's got powers but doesn't know how they work, a domino effect of bad things happening, legal implications of meta-related crime, meta support group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22396468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: The first night of the Meta Support Group is a success... until a latecomer's powers accidentally send Hartley into a rage fueled spiral fixated on Dr. Wells.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Series: Neighbors and Butterflies [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522898
Comments: 17
Kudos: 198





	Rampage

Hartley groaned and leaned back in his chair, then had to sit forward abruptly to avoid tipping over. He wrinkled his nose and rolled back some; these really weren't the best chairs.

He'd have to talk to Harrison about getting them all replaced now that the support group was up and running.

It had been a good turn out for today's session - the very first session - and Hartley'd been pleased by how it went. He'd done what he could to make sure everyone had a chance to talk and Hartley'd been particularly relieved to have Barry's previous experience with support groups to help him run things.

Not counting himself and Barry, there'd been five attendees. Farooq, who was contending with difficult to control electrical abilities. (Hartley was trying to track down a man with similar powers a few states over, though word was the meta was retired... or a myth.) Linda, who could create photon blasts when she was angry or just glow when she was bored. (Hartley suspected she'd eventually be able to turn invisible too.) Griffen, a teenager who now looked to be twenty-five due to how his powers prematurely aged him. (Halted for now with Hartley and Cisco's latest power dampener design, but the key to reversing the damage already done still eluded them.) Norvock, who'd lost one of his eyes during the accelerator's explosion and gained some sort of snake-like tentacle in its place. (He'd bonded with Barry over their facial scarring and how obnoxious it was when people stared.) And last, but not least, Joss, whose ability to control the weather marked some kind of familial connection to the recently incarcerated Clyde Mardon, though neither Hartley nor Barry were inclined to push her on the subject.

Farooq and Griffen were both very angry, and understandably so. Both had powers that massively impacted their health in negative ways and were permanently stuck wearing dampener cuffs twenty-four-seven until some kind of cure could be devised. Norvock seemed a lot less angry than he used to be, though, having apparently been sought out by the child he'd rescued at the zoo the evening the accelerator went off. Linda enjoyed her powers - apparently her boyfriend really liked the glowing - but was afraid of accidentally hurting someone, which was also Joss' concern, as her moods now affected the weather.

They'd met at one of STAR Lab's guest conference rooms, which didn't require badge access during the day. Hartley had extended that into the evening so that everyone could come and go as they pleased on Thursdays. The session had lasted a little over an hour before breaking up and Hartley hoped they'd gain a few more attendees as time went on and more metahumans discovered their powers.

But it had also been a very long hour and a half and Hartley had the makings of another headache coming on.

Getting to his feet, Hartley gathered up his things, tossed the remaining coffee cups into the trash, and headed for the main lobby. His car was parked out front and he could not wait to go home.

"Oh, shit, am I late?"

Hartley saw a man standing in the lobby doorway, defeated expression on his face. Not anyone Hartley recognized from the handful of people who'd acquiesced to going through STAR Labs meta testing, so maybe he'd heard about the group via word of mouth?

"Sorry, yeah. The group just ended for the night a little while ago," Hartley told him, holding out a hand. "Hartley Rathaway."

"Roy," the man replied nervously, not meeting Hartley's eyes but taking the offered handshake. "Damn. I'm sorry. I'll just... go."

"Hey, wait," Hartley caught the door and followed him into the lobby. "You're a meta, right?"

"I guess so? I mean... things have been weird around me lately. It's... hard to explain and, you know, maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"It's possible, but then maybe you're not. How about you come back tomorrow? Whatever time suits you, any time of the day. We can do a simple test to see if you've got lingering dark matter in your system. It's not proof you're a meta, but its a good indicator," Hartley offered. "Takes about ten minutes, not counting the time it takes to fill out the consent forms. Maybe talk with us about how things have been weird for you?"

"It's just... people around me get angry a lot. Like I'm projecting my feelings on to them." Roy plucked at the hem of his shirt. "It sounds paranoid when I say that out loud." He glanced up, meeting Hartley's eyes for a split second.

It must've been the headache talking. Light aura hallucinations making Roy's eyes seem to flash red for a moment.

He blinked, hard, and shook his head. Shit, must be a migraine and not just a regular headache coming on if he was seeing auras.

Could this guy just shut up and go away now? Hartley just wanted to go home, dammit.

Taking a calming breath, Hartley offered Roy one of his most sincere looking fake smiles. "Come back tomorrow anyway. If you test negative for the dark matter, it'll be a load off your mind, okay?"

"Right." Roy grimaced. "Sorry, I shouldn't have... I'll see you tomorrow." He fled out the front doors.

Hartley moved to follow after, but he paused to look at the photos on the wall. Pictures from a happier time when the accelerator hadn't exploded and life had still made sense. They'd won a number of trophies at corporate challenge that year and the basketball team picture in particular caught Hartley's eye. He was there, as was Harrison... and Ronnie.

Ronnie, who was dead because he'd played hero of the hour while Hartley was passed out from the pain in his ears. And both of those situations were caused by the overloading accelerator, which was caused by...

 _Angry,_ Hartley thought, dimly. _Roy makes people around him feel angry. And I'm angry._

Hartley's fist hit the photograph anyway. "I'm angry," he muttered and then turned away from the main lobby. Instead, he badged into the lab area and headed for the elevators.

Hartley Rathaway wasn't just angry. He was fucking furious.

* * *

Eobard frowned as his home's proximity sensor went off and he made a quick speed run back into his wheelchair. Who would be coming to visit at this hour of the night?

Rolling into his living room so he'd take a believable amount of time to go open the front door when the doorbell finally rang, he waited.

And waited.

The sensor should have gone off again if the person on his property had left. But it hadn't yet.

Eobard was just about ready to get up and go check the sensor network for a malfunction, when all the windows shattered over him and he had to resist the urge to run out of his chair in case whoever it was could see him.

Instead the glass rained down on him and Eobard cursed softly. He'd have to use an image inducer to fake some cuts on his face and neck later.

"Who's there?" He demanded, putting a fake tremor in his voice.

The cell phone on his kitchen counter rang and Eobard maneuvered his chair over to reach it. He answered, putting it on speaker.

"I know your secret," Hartley said over the phone. For a moment, Eobard's blood ran cold. Hartley knew, how could he know, he... "and you're going to pay for what happened with the accelerator, Harrison. You knew it was flawed and you still went forward with that thing. Soon, everyone is going to know the truth about you."

He relaxed for a moment as the call cut off. This was about the flaw Hartley had found. The one Eobard had convinced Hartley that it wasn't the big deal he'd thought it was.

Why was Hartley doing this now, though? Tonight had been the first night of his support group. If anything, he should have been pleased with himself for helping others, not spiraling into a rage over sins nearly a year old.

The proximity alarm went off again, signalling Hartley's departure.

Flashing to his room, Harrison grabbed the image inducer from his collection of twenty-fifth century tech and hid it beneath his shirt after programming it to give him a few nicks here and there. Nothing that would conceivably still be bleeding by the time the police arrived...

Assuming Harrison called the police, that is.

He called up his property's security cameras and watched Hartley carefully and... there was a flash of red in his eyes.

Rainbow Raider. Eobard couldn't remember the man's real name, but in the original timeline he'd been one of the Rogues and could manipulate other people's emotions. The emotion he had the strongest affinity for had been anger, if Eobard was remembering correctly.

Rainbow Raider must've been at that support group meeting.

Returning to his chair, Eobard cleaned it off and sat back down, deliberately wheeling to the bathroom, so there was a visible path in the debris. Then he unlocked his phone and pulled up the contacts, locating Barry Allen's phone number. It wouldn't do to lose Hartley to the police, particularly not if there was a possibility DA Cecile Horton might hear Hartley's angry ravings and consider that, perhaps, criminal negligence charges - or even negligent homicide - were in order over the events of the accelerator's 'failure'.

Sighing to himself, Eobard rolled his eyes at the part he was going to have to play, but tapped the call button anyway.

"Doctor Wells?" Barry answered after the first ring, sounding... out of breath. Presumably not from running, but if Captain Cold - or the man who'd eventually become Captain Cold, anyway - was over playing boyfriend again, well... "Is something wrong?"

"I think there may be something wrong with Hartley. Did anything unusual happen at the meeting tonight?"

"Not that I can think of. Why? What's wrong?"

"Hartley..." Eobard affected a hesitant, concerned tone. "Hartley just attacked my house."

"I'll be right there," Barry promised.

* * *

Barry hates having to leave Len behind on the couch, but what Dr. Wells just said made no sense. Hartley would never attack Dr. Wells, so obviously something bizarre had to be going on.

Shapeshiftor maybe? That'd be both really cool and really terrible.

He skids to a halt in front of Dr. Wells' front door, barely avoiding smacking his face into the sturdy metal and glass door. Which... would've been very embarrassing. He knocked and then waited for Dr. Wells to come into view and let him inside.

His first thought is that Wells house fits him perfectly. Extremely modern but a little... devoid of personality. Which is rude and never to be voiced aloud, of course. Barry's second thought is 'that is a lot of shattered glass' because, well, the living area was covered in it.

"What happened? Hartley did this?" Barry couldn't believe that.

"He called immediately after the glass shattered. He said I had to pay for what happened with the accelerator. But I can't imagine he's doing this of his own volition; that's why I asked about the support group. It was opened up for anyone, even metas who haven't agreed to our studies. I thought maybe..." Wells trailed off as Barry shook his head.

"Everyone there was part of your study program like I am," Barry told him. Except... there'd been a car pulling into the parking lot as Barry'd left with Len, hadn't there? But Barry was the only one in the group who didn't drive. Everyone else, even Griffen, had cars in the lot waiting for them. "Someone was pulling into the front lot as I was leaving. Maybe someone was very, very late."

"My security badge is over on the kitchen counter," Wells told him. "You know where the security office is on the main floor?"

Barry nodded.

"Good, go check the security cameras. I'll call Cisco and meet you there." Wells pulled out a pad of paper from his wheelchair somewhere and scribbled something down on the top sheet, which was then ripped off and passed over. "My login. You can use it to access the cameras."

"Alright, I'll see you again soon." Barry nabbed the badge from the counter and flashed to STAR Labs, letting himself in.

The building was eerie in the dark of night; Barry turned on the lights as he went just to feel more comfortable about it. The security office was behind the main lobby, empty for the night as STAR Labs night security only patrolled the parking lot. The cameras unlocked easily with Wells login credentials and Barry quickly pulled up the cameras for the guest conference area and the main lobby.

Sure enough, once Barry moves the tapes to seven-thirty, there's a man entering the lobby as Farooq and Griffen are walking out. The last two to leave, save for Hartley who'd lingered in the conference room.

The unknown man looked nervous and headed into the conference area hallway, where he encountered Hartley.

The conversation seemed innocuous right up until, "it's just... people around me get angry a lot. Like I'm projecting my feelings on to them." And then the meta, Roy, looked up at Hartley for a moment before ducking his head again.

Hartley's eyes flashed red in that moment.

Fuck.

Hartley seemed fine at first. A touch agitated, but that could've easily been due to a headache. There'd been signs during the last half-hour of the session that Hartley had one coming on, from the way he'd started squinting at the lights and making abortive movements to rub at his temples.

But in the lobby after Roy left, Hartley froze to stare at the wall of pictures. And then he hit one and stormed into the lab area, down the halls to the elevator, and into his personal labs. Where he put on a pair of gloves covered in some kind of tech that Barry couldn't identify.

Then he left STAR Labs, driving away... presumably to go smash in all of Dr. Wells windows using those gloves. Some kind of sonic tech? That was Hartley's specialty, wasn't it?

Barry went to the lobby to check the wall. There was only one photo on the wall with the protective glass cracked from the impact of a fist. A team photo from some sporting event members of the lab had taken part in. Wells was standing in the photo with an arm around Hartley's shoulders and his other arm around...

According to the description beneath the photo, Dr. Wells left arm was around the shoulders of Ronnie Raymond, Caitlin's deceased boyfriend.

But why did this picture set Hartley off so badly? Why would he attack Dr. Wells, even with whatever Roy had done to him?

And where had Hartley gone after leaving Dr. Wells house?

* * *

"Oh shit," Cisco muttered, hitting pause on the video playback right as Hartley picked up the gloves. "Right, okay, I know what those are. And they're definitely sonic tech." He swiveled the chair around to give Barry and Dr. Wells a sheepish look. "Right, so... they were supposed to be a surprise. A good surprise."

"Cisco." Wells used his 'get to the point' tone.

"They create sonic waves that can be used as a weapon during a fight. Hartley was creating them as a non-lethal tech so that if an emergency occurs, someone can help you out in a fight, Barry. After you've had to deal with Mardon, Baez, and Danton Black, we wanted to make sure you weren't always going to be doing this alone." Cisco sighed, miserably. "We were calling it project piper because Hartley designed the tech with a sort of flute-aesthetic."

"Except now Hartley's hopped up on rage and armed with these things. We need to get him contained until this wears off... before he does something worse than blow in the windows at Dr. Wells house," Barry said. "If he's caught doing something illegal by the police, I honestly don't know how well a 'meta human affected my mind' defense is going to work with the DA."

Cisco let out a pained whine. If Hartley was in a bad enough state of mind that he'd attack Dr. Wells, he'd certainly fight back against anyone who tried to arrest him.

"Where else would Hartley go? If he's this angry with you, Dr. Wells, who else might he be enraged at enough to go after?" Barry was frowning at Wells.

Dr. Wells took a few moments to consider his answer. "His parents, perhaps. He attempted to get back in touch with them a few weeks ago, but they... rebuffed him, as they usually do. They're out of the country at the moment, but their home... or perhaps Rathaway Industries main headquarters might be Hartley's next target."

"Okay. I'm going to check those two places out." Barry disappeared and then reappeared in the Flash suit, upgraded from the original suit (known as project hot stuff, which Cisco was still iffy on the name despite how edible Barry looked in it) to be more breathable and less... conducive to sweating. "Do you know the addresses?"

Dr. Wells indeed knew the addresses and Barry was off in a heartbeat.

"If he brings Hartley back here, we're going to need a place to keep him until the effects of this meta's powers wears off. Hopefully this Roy really will return tomorrow and will permit us to study the effects of his powers."

Cisco hummed thoughtfully, then switched the screen over to the prototype meta-containment chamber. It was a smaller version of the cells they'd been helping to install at Iron Heights for the criminal metas that Barry caught. "We can put him in there. How long... how long do you think this affect is going to last on him?"

"I can't even begin to guess," Wells sighed. "We should call in Caitlin. Perhaps she can figure something out even without Roy's input. Or at least have a starting point in mind for when the man arrives."

"Right. Well, I'm going to go let Barry know over the comms where to put Hartley once he's found him." Cisco's chest tightened as he looked back at the screen, at the unsatisfied anger on the man's face in the recording.

He'd never seen Hartley look so... cold and calculating before.

"Why is he so angry with you?"

"I'm not sure."

Cisco glanced over his shoulder at Dr. Wells, startled... because that had sounded like a lie.

Of course, that was when the security office alarms went off. Because the front lobby door had just been shattered.

"Get Barry back here now," Wells said, voice tense.

"On it," Cisco said, already running out the door for the stairs. He needed to get to the comms in the cortex immediately, before Hartley did something in his rage he'd truly regret later.

* * *

He'd gone home planning to sleep but his brain just wouldn't stop. Too many thoughts trying to crowd each other out and all of it made Hartley want to scream. Tried to calm it down with a cup of tea, but it was taking too long for the water to boil and his hands were shaking and he couldn't stop thinking about...

_Hartley hadn't felt this claustrophobic in a crowded room since he gave up clubbing as a lost cause in college, but everything felt noisier than it really was, voices seeming to merge together until he had no idea what Cisco was even saying right there in front of him... and then the champagne bottle popped open and Hartley flinched at how loud it was._

_The champagne floated out of the bottle._

_And Hartley knew, with a dawning sense of horror, why._

It was his fault. The phrase spun in Hartley's mind, until he wasn't sure if he meant himself or Harrison and he was flinging his empty mug at the wall with a scream of frustration.

It wasn't enough. What he'd done wasn't enough, Harrison hadn't paid enough, he hadn't...

Things went a little fuzzy after that. He lived close to STAR Labs, walking or biking to work more often than he drove. And he walked now, hoping to clear his head, because there was something wrong with him but he couldn't remember what.

But it was Harrison's fault.

_"Hartley... you're right, this needs to be rewired and that part replaced entirely. But as it stands now, it'll last for the duration of our hour-long demonstration. And if it makes you feel better, I'll even shorten the initial run to forty-five minutes. Afterwards, we can make the repairs. I know you're concerned, but it'll be fine." Harrison smiled reassuringly._

_Every instinct screaming this was a mistake, Hartley nodded. "Alright. If you're sure it'll be safe enough for the demonstration. But this has to be the first thing we do after the weekend."_

It didn't last the whole demonstration. Forty-five minutes and the champagne was popped and Harrison was supposed to shut it off.

The accelerator wouldn't shut off though.

_The champagne was floating in the air and too loud became screaming in Hartley's ears and there was too much and it hurt..._

_And Caitlin was there, hands on his, trying to calm him down, saying something but he couldn't hear her, he couldn't... he couldn't focus, couldn't read her lips, didn't know what she was saying and oh, god, it hurt, hurt, hurt..._

_There was something slick against his hands and he pulled one away from his ears to see the smear of blood there... and he had enough time to feel the cold shock of panic before the noise and the pain spiked and then there was blissful unconsciousness._

Harrison did that to him. Made Caitlin cry and Ronnie die and Cisco too quiet...

With a scream of rage, Hartley lifted his hands and blasted open the front doors of STAR Labs.

He stood there for a moment, panting for breath. When... when did he put the gloves back on? Or had he ever taken them off?

Exhaustion tried to shut him down, but another wave of anger crested and Hartley was off again. More sonic blasts knocked all the photographs to the floor and destroyed the waiting area and reception desk and he was shaking as he turned to the main door to the labs. He hadn't brought his badge with him, so one destroyed security door later and he was headed into the main hall.

There was the telltale sound behind him and Hartley spun around. A sonic wave knocked a red-clad speedster across the littered floor of the main lobby.

Barry got up to run at Hartley again, but Hartley used sonic blast after blast, sending Barry to the ground again and again... and then spots seemed to glitter in front of Hartley's eyes and he blinked hard, stumbling against the ruined wall behind him... and it was just enough of break that Barry was back up and in front of him and then...

The world blurred.

* * *

Barry put Hartley in the cell and handed Cisco the gloves before running off to make sure Hartley hadn't committed any vandalism some place other than STAR Labs and Dr. Wells' house. Leaving Cisco alone in the room with Dr. Wells and the utterly pissed off Hartley, who was not pleased in the slightest to be inside the containment cell.

"Let me out!"

"We should call Caitlin now," Wells said, ignoring Hartley's angry shout. "We'll need her help to find some way of... undoing this. I'd like to hope that it would wear off on its own, but..."

Hartley's eyes seemed to glow red for a moment and it gave him new steam as he straightened up and punched the glass door of the cell. Without the sonic gloves, he only managed to damage his own hands, though.

Cisco rubbed at his eyes. Part of him wanted to just sit down and cry. He hadn't hurt this much since... the night of the accelerator.

The evening they'd turned on the accelerator, Hartley'd seemed increasingly distracted and out of it the longer the night went on, and then it was like everything happened at once. Hartley screaming in pain, clutching at his ears, dropping to his knees while Caitlin desperately tried to help him. And Cisco had to leave him there to help Ronnie... to help...

And then Ronnie was dead and Hartley's hearing was permanently changed and the world felt like it would never be alright again.

If they couldn't stop this, it might kill Hartley. And Cisco couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

"Caitlin?" Wells was already on the phone with her, halfway out the door, presumably headed for the cortex. "I'm sorry to be calling so late, but we're having an emergency. I need you back at the Labs. No, no it's nothing to do with Barry. It's Hartley. He encountered a meta tonight who..." Wells was out of Cisco's hearing range by then, his words dropping to an indistinct murmur before fading entirely.

But Hartley was still listening.

"This is all Harrison's fault," Hartley said, voice quiet. Cold. Calculating. The more dangerous of Hartley's two angry settings. "That night. There was a flaw in the accelerator, Cisco. He knew about it and did nothing. That freak accident? The lightning striking our building... if he'd fixed the flaw before hand, nothing would have happened. The alarms wouldn't have burned out. And he fucking knew, Cisco."

Cisco swallowed hard. "How do you know that?"

"Because I'm the one who told him. I'm the one who found the flaw."

* * *

Hartley's car is parked at his apartment building, for which Barry is incredibly grateful. Hartley was in no shape to be driving, not in that all encompassing rage he'd been trapped within.

The most likely path Hartley took to walk back to STAR Labs is vandalism free. Well, there's a mailbox that's seen better days, but it looks more like a car had driven into it than like Hartley blasted it with those gloves. Considering what the setting Hartley had it on did the front doors of STAR Labs and how it had felt getting smacked down repeatedly by it, Barry suspected that the mail box would've be knocked across the street and not merely slightly crumpled. No convenient - or inconvenient - CCTV cameras for any of the nearby buildings were pointed at the mailbox, so Barry decided not to worry about it one way or the other.

Instead he did a quick loop of the less likely paths Hartley' might've taken to walk back to the lab and then decided to count his blessings that Hartley apparently had a one-track mind when pissed off and hadn't actually gone on to attack his parents' properties.

Dr. Wells wouldn't press charges against Hartley for vandalism. The Rathaways probably would.

Returning to STAR Labs, Barry changed back into his own clothes and joined Dr. Wells in the cortex. "What can I do to help?"

"If you can track down the identity of the meta who did this, perhaps he could help us find a counter that would... reset Hartley back to normal. The brain is a very delicate machine, Mr. Allen, and Hartley's has been forced out of balance. And I rather suspect that even if we can find a way to undo what's been done, he's in for a rough few days as his brain chemistry sorts itself back out."

Barry nodded, feeling sick.

Cisco walked into the cortex. "He's calmed down some for now. Still enraged and not thinking straight, but calmer." He looks stiff and anxious and upset. Not that Barry can blame him. Cisco and Hartley have a sort of complicated love/hate/flirt relationship that's actually managed to go slower than Barry's own flirtation-turned-dating with Len.

"Though I doubt the camera caught the data we need, I'm going to try a spectrum analysis on the red light we saw in the recording," Wells said. "Caitlin's on her way, hopefully we'll be able to use the prototype portable scanner to get some useful readings from Hartley."

Barry went back to the the recording as well and printed off a decent screenshot of Roy's face. And then, closing his eyes, he mentally debated Joe, Eddie, or Singh.

Joe first, then Singh, Barry decided. And then he flashed to Joe's house and let himself in. "Joe! Joe!"

"Back here, Bar," Joe called from the kitchen. Barry found him doing dishes.

"I need your help with something," Barry said and then, in a rush but hopefully not talking so fast that he was unintelligible, explained the situation. The latecomer to the support group, Hartley's sudden and all-encompassing rage, and then... "we know his first name is Roy. It's a long shot, but I was hoping he might be in the system."

"Yeah, okay, let's head into the station and we'll give facial recognition a try. You don't think he did this on purpose, do you?" Joe asked.

"No. I think it was a genuine accident. But if people around him are reacting like Hartley... we'd have noticed. I think... I think it's affecting him worse because Hartley's a meta too."

The drive to the station felt long. Too long, he could've run there and back dozens of times in the space of half of the drive, never mind the whole thing. But instead Barry sat quietly in the passenger seat, photograph in hand and quietly freaking out.

The station was quiet at night, the bullpen mostly empty. Just a few detectives working late, who waved at Joe and Barry as they walked in. If a case came in during the night, they'd call in whoever was needed to cover it.

Barry sat in Eddie's chair, jittery and fretful, as the photo was scanned in and then run through facial recognition. But, finally, Barry's hope paid out. A name - Roy Bivolo - and a current address too. Roy was doing community service after punching a fellow artist at an art show some months earlier. He had a record, a few petty thefts, but nothing recent. It looked like Bivolo was trying to clean up his act and Barry hoped that this didn't set the man back in the end.

"Thanks, Joe. I'll pay you back later." And then Barry was headed for the stairs where he could run without being caught on camera.

Barry knocked at Bivolo's door, desperate, and oh so relieved when it opened to reveal the very man Barry was looking for.

"Hi, you were at STAR Labs earlier tonight, right? Talked to Dr. Rathaway?"

"I... yes?" Roy looked nervous, and was looking more at Barry's shoulder than at Barry himself. Which was for the best considering what happened to Hartley.

"You have powers. And now Hartley's been affected."

Roy let out a little wounded noise and stumbled backwards a few steps, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut. "No, no, no... it was supposed to just be... all in my head. It wasn't supposed to be real."

"It is, Roy. When you looked Hartley in the eyes, there was some kind of red light. It got caught on camera. But because Hartley's a meta too, he's not just angry, he's enraged and self destructive and instead of wearing off the anger is just looping and getting stronger. Please. Come back to STAR Labs with me and help us find a way to help him before he really hurts himself."

"Who are you?" Roy finally asked after a long moment of silence. "How did you find me?"

"I'm Barry Allen. And I'm a meta, like you. I was at the support group tonight and... I'm one of the metas in the STAR Labs study program. But... I'm also a CSI."

"And I'm in the system," Roy finished. "I didn't mean to hurt him. I swear, I didn't mean to hurt him."

"I know. But I think it happened when you looked him in the eyes. So... maybe sunglasses are in order?"

Roy nodded. "Right." And then he grabbed a pair of sunglasses off a shelf by the door, along with his wallet and keys. "I'll go with you and help." Locking up the apartment, Roy muttered, "and I thought the last few weeks had been a nightmare..."

* * *

The recording is useless and Cisco can't stand to be in the same room as Dr. Wells right now, though he's trying hard not to show it.

Hartley found a flaw in the accelerator. A flaw that Hartley believed made it dangerous to do the accelerator's test run until it was fixed. Dr. Wells had disagreed and convinced Hartley that it would be fine and...

And Cisco knows, rationally, that it was still a tragic accident. Barry Allen wasn't the only unfortunate victim of a lightning strike that night. Arguably, everyone who'd been harmed or turned into a meta had been a victim of a lightning strike. The lightning that had struck STAR Labs around ten minutes into the experiment.

The lightning had shorted out power in part of the labs, causing the alarms that should have signaled something wrong with the containment field to fail. It also accelerated the failure of the flawed equipment in the containment field controls. Containment was lost somewhere around the thirty-five minute mark, which was about when Hartley'd started complaining about it being too loud in the cortex.

By the time Dr. Wells went to turn off the accelerator, it was no longer responding to the cortex controls and a feedback loop was building up power that had to be burned off somehow before the entire building exploded.

The lightning strike was an unforeseen, unpredictable event. No one could have known that would happen. But if Wells had listened to Hartley, they'd have taken apart the flawed components and wiring and likely found the fault that caused the alarms to fail when the power went out. If Wells had listened to Hartley, then they wouldn't have been testing the accelerator during that storm, but instead on some clear night a few weeks later.

If Wells had listened to Hartley, then Cisco wouldn't have had to shut his best friend in the pipeline knowing Ronnie would die in there. Wouldn't have had to stand by Caitlin at Ronnie's funeral, hating himself for being alive when Ronnie wasn't.

So Cisco can completely understand why Hartley's meta-induced rage focused in on Dr. Wells like it did.

Thus, when Caitlin showed up and started running scans of Hartley, Cisco went with her. He stood off to the side and waited, quietly, for good news or... anything at all. But then she had to go to her lab to analyze the scans and Cisco just stayed there with Hartley, who was tossing out insult after insult, trying to start a fight.

Any other day what Hartley'd just said about Cisco's hair would've definitely started a fight. Right now, Cisco just buried his face against his knees and began to cry.

"Cisco..." Hartley's voice had softened slightly.

Looking up, Cisco wiped at his face. "Hartley?"

"Don't... don't cry... please don't... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said... I didn't mean..." Hartley's expression twisted in self-hatred. "I'm sorry..." and then his eyes seemed flash again... but duller this time? Just a little?

It had to be wearing off. Please, god, it had to be wearing off.

"Cisco?" This time it wasn't Hartley who said his name, but Barry, standing in the doorway. "I found Roy. Roy Bivolo. He's in the cortex with Dr. Wells and Caitlin. He agreed to let them run tests, to try and figure out how his powers work so they can reverse it. Caitlin said that between her scans of Hartley's brain and the scans she's taking from Roy, she should be able to come up with a light pattern that will reverse the affects on Hartley."

"Oh thank god," Cisco breathed out, scrambling to his feet. "Lets see if she needs me to build anything."

* * *

It's nearly two in the morning by the time they're flashing bright lights in Hartley's eyes. Hartley sways like a puppet with his strings cut once the red in his eyes flashes into view again and then drains away entirely. Or at least... that's what Caitlin hopes just happened as Hartley passes out into Barry and Cisco's arms.

They hustle Hartley to the medical bed in the cortex and, with great reluctance, strap him down. In case Hartley wakes up angry again. And then Caitlin checks him over.

"I think he just passed out from exhaustion. Being normal angry is tiring. This..." She shook her head. "He'll probably wake up on his own if we just let him sleep and I really don't think it'd be a good idea to give him any sort of stimulant right now, even just to check on his state of mind."

Caitlin heads to their break room once she realizes that Cisco isn't going to listen to her gentle suggestions that he get some sleep of his own. The break room is where Roy went to hide once they were done taking scans of him using his powers. His abilities seemed to just sort of activate at random, so it was a good call on Barry's part getting him to wear the sunglasses, which blocked the light generated from Roy's eyes just enough so as to have no effect.

Roy looks miserable sitting alone on the break room couch, hands wrapped around a coffee cup and staring at the dampener cuffs Cisco gave him like he can't quite believe they're real.

"We think it worked, but we'll know for sure when Hartley wakes up." Caitlin came in and poured herself a cup of coffee before settling down beside Roy. "This wasn't your fault."

"I've always been... socially awkward," Roy finally said. "People get frustrated with me easily." He hesitated a moment, glancing at her as though taking stock of her, before adding, "Aspergers. Makes eye-contact really uncomfortable for me, never could understand why it seems so natural to everyone else."

"Not everyone," Caitlin told him, gazing into her own coffee with a wry look. "I hated it as a kid. Still don't like it now, but I learned to ignore that. Mother was always getting on my case about being respectful and looking people in the eye." Her troubles, however, had stemmed from a different source, though she'd long since moved past the childhood fear that other people could see the cold that slept within her.

"Mine was the same way, but I never got the hang of it. She just... gave up on me. Gave up on me altogether when I decided to study art. What colorblind idiot goes into art?"

"Someone who knows art isn't about color, its about feeling?" Caitlin offered.

"Thank you." Roy laughed, bitterly. "I feel like a monster right now. What I did your friend..."

"You suspected you had powers and you came here to ask for help. You were trying to do the right thing. What happened was an accident. Hartley will say the same thing when he wakes up."

"People were getting mad at me more than normal. Not just frustrated, annoyed... angry. And sometimes I was certain it was because..." he gestured to his eyes. "Made me even more reluctant to do the whole social nicety thing. But he was being nice and I wanted to... I didn't want him to think I was rude. I really thought that I was just... being paranoid. Needed to go back into therapy. Probably should still do that one, but I can't really afford it right now."

Caitlin wished she could do more to help Roy than just study his powers. But, perhaps for now anyway, being kind would suffice. "I've got a few forms for you to fill out and then you should go home. Get some sleep."

"What about the damage to the building?"

"In a few hours we'll call a contractor to give us a repair estimate. Don't worry about it."

"But its..." he set down his coffee. "I can't afford to pay for it, but it's all broken because of me."

"Maybe, but STAR Labs can afford to have a few doors repaired. Just don't forget to keep the cuffs charged and wear them when you're around other people. If you think you may have affected someone and its not wearing off, let us know and we can use the reversal device on them too. Come by for additional scans and testing in a few days. Who knows, maybe your power can artificially stimulate emotions other than anger. If it can? Learning how your power works could lead to break throughs in how illnesses like depression are treated. After all, light therapy is already recommended for treating seasonal depression."

"So that's not total bunk?"

"Nope."

Roy took a drink of his coffee. "I'm gonna feel like death warmed over at work today. Wish I could afford to take the day off."

"What time do you have to be in?"

"Six o'clock. Eight hour shift at Target. Lunch at eleven and then I clock out at three."

"How about you try and sleep some here?"

Roy yawned. "Forgot my phone at home. Gonna have to go back for it anyway." He stretched and then stood up and tossed his coffee cup. "Thank you. For being so nice to me even though I hurt your friend."

"Honestly, we've sort of been expecting something like this to happen at some point. Someone's powers causing trouble by accident, that is. Will you be able to come back on Monday evening?"

"Oh, uh... yes. Um... you mentioned forms?"

Caitlin smiled gently and stood. "A few consent forms. I'm afraid we sort of did things backwards jumping straight into testing your powers."

"I'm completely fine with that, especially if Dr. Rathaway comes out okay in the end."

* * *

Hartley wakes up in stages. He feels like he's lost in his own head, struggling up through layers of cotton. Also hungover.

He's not sure he's awake at first, the feeling of being unable to move making him feel trapped in some sort of waking nightmare. And then it filters in that his arms really are restrained.

Eyes open in panic as he takes in the cortex with blurry vision. Where are his glasses? Why are his arms trapped? What happened the night before...

_His fist hitting the photograph of the basketball team..._

Why would he...

"Cisco?" Hartley croaks out. "Cisco?!" He doesn't want anyone else. He feels shame curling through him and he's not sure why yet, but he...

"Hartley, Hartley, hey, I've got you," Cisco soothes, already undoing the restraints and helping ease Hartley up into a sitting position. "I've got you," Cisco repeats as Hartley immediately burrows into Cisco's arms. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Hartley responded, hesitant to say 'wrecked' for all that it was the truth. "Nauseated," he amended, pulling away. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Cisco rushed for a basin, just in time for Hartley to sick up in it.

"There was a meta. Last night, after..."

"After the support group ended," Cisco agreed, gently brushing the hair out of Hartley's face and setting the basin aside for now. "His name is Roy Bivolo and he didn't know how his powers worked."

"He wasn't sure he even had any." Hartley wished remembering didn't feel like slogging through molasses. "He did something to me, didn't he?"

"Yes. And he was absolutely horrified when he learned what happened to you. Caitlin was able to reverse it, thanks to Roy's cooperation."

"Cisco, what did he do to me? Why can't... why can't I remember what happened?" Hartley's mind felt as though it touched the edge of those memories and then shied away. "I was so angry..."

"He sent your mind into a sort of loop, getting angrier and angrier. You, um... you fixated on Dr. Wells. Because you saw the picture of him with you and Ronnie, probably. Because... because of the flaw in the accelerator you found that he dismissed."

Panic hits Hartley hard. Cisco knows? Oh, god, Cisco knows. He must hate Hartley now, right?

Of course he does. Ronnie is dead and it's all Hartley's fault.

Tears start running down Hartley's face and Cisco just tucks him back into a hug. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"Bruised Barry a little and did some property damage both here and at Dr. Wells house, but no one was really hurt except you, Hartley."

There's a soft, wounded, keening sound and it takes a moment for Hartley to realize he's the one making it.

"He's awake?" Caitlin's voice sounded from the doorway. "Hartley? Hartley, please can you look at me? I need... I need to give you a quick check up, okay?"

He nods and pulls away from Cisco. Wipes the tears off his face. And then just sort of sits there, feeling like he's going numb all over, as Caitlin runs a few tests on him.

Cisco tells her about Hartley's upset stomach and then disappears to clean out the basin while Caitlin takes a few scans. "I wish I knew more about neurochemistry," she muttered softly. "Good news is that after all the scans we took after your hearing changed, we know what your baseline should look like," she said in a normal tone, offering Hartley a tired smile. "It's going to be a tough time for you until your brain chemistry goes back to normal, but I'm already seeing an improvement."

"I feel numb," Hartley finally said. "I don't remember anything after Roy showed up last night. That... that was last night, right?"

"Yes, Hartley. It was last night." Caitlin takes his hand and squeezes a moment, then makes way for Cisco who'd returned and was acting oddly anxious to be right there beside Hartley.

Why were they being so nice to him when they all had to know the truth now? The flaw... if Hartley had trusted his instincts more, had pushed for Harrison to take a second look at the faulty wiring... Hartley can't help himself, he folds back into Cisco's embrace and lets himself pass out again.

* * *

Barry is back at the station again, bright and early in the morning.

He only got a few hours sleep, but probably more than everyone else did. And that was even with running over to Dr. Wells house, cleaning up the glass, and tarping over the shattered windows. He'd done some clean up at STAR Labs too, though Wells would be contacting professionals to repair and replace the damaged doors and furniture.

But in the end, once Barry knew Hartley had at least been snapped out of his anger spiral, Barry had been able to go home and crawl into bed with Len, who'd been sleeping more at Barry's apartment than his sister's these days.

Barry actually gets to the station before Captain Singh gets there and is anxious sitting there, thinking about the night before. How it all could have gone so very wrong and how Hartley, the victim in all of this, could have easily ended up arrested for his actions. Or how Roy could have had his life destroyed over an accident. (And considering that it was likely Roy's powers would work on himself too, what might have happened to Roy if he had affected himself the way he had Hartley? An anger-fueled Roy with no compunctions against using his powers to hurt others... Barry shuddered at the thought.)

There were simply no legal precedents in place to protect people in these situations. Not people unduly influenced by metas nor metas who spontaneously gained potentially dangerous powers that they didn't know how to control.

That needed to change. They needed to have those protections. Which meant talking to Captain Singh and probably DA Horton and eventually a whole host of bureaucrats. Better to start now than later, though.

"Mr. Allen. You're not only here at the station, but you're here before me." Singh's dry tone put a smile on Barry's face in spite of the very, very awful night he'd had. "What's the bad news?"

"I'd rather talk about it in your office," Barry told him.

"Right, then." David unlocked the door and ushered Barry inside. "Alright, what is it?"

Carefully, Barry explained the events of the night before, leaving out specific names so as not to wind up throwing Hartley or Roy under a bus, as it were. "Given the circumstances, Dr. Wells would rather just repair the two buildings and sweep the whole thing under the rug. Which works out fine this time, but what happens the next time someone who doesn't even know they're a meta uses their powers to create an accidental catastrophe. Or someone influenced by a meta's powers does something illegal?"

"You know, it's too early for murky ethical and legal questions, Allen." Singh half-glared at him while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Go get us coffees and let them know you're not going to be at the lab or available to take on new cases today. If I get to hammer out what the CCPD and DA's policy on meta related cases is going to be, you get to suffer with Horton and I."

"I've only had, like, four and a half hours of sleep last night," Barry warned. "I cannot guarantee I'll stay coherent for a full day of discussing what if scenarios and legal implications. And also caffeine doesn't actually work for me anymore."

"We'll take a long lunch. You can break for nap time," Singh teased.

"You joke now, but I'm holding you to that."

* * *

Cisco was impatient for Hartley to wake up again, wanting to wrap the other man back up in his arms and never let go.

He'd settle for bundling Hartley into a car, driving him home, and spending the day on Hartley's couch making sure that Hartley was not alone while his brain chemistry continued to be all screwed up.

After about forty-ish minutes, Hartley finally woke back up. He seemed slightly more coherent and infinitely more ashamed.

"I attacked Harrison," Hartley muttered, running his fingers through his hair. When it looked like he was going to drag them back with his nails pressing too hard against fragile skin, Cisco gently took Hartley's hands in his own. "I attacked Harrison," he repeated, giving Cisco a haunted look. "And I damaged STAR Labs and... why aren't I in jail?"

"Dr. Wells isn't about to file a police report over something that wasn't your fault," Cisco insisted. "Hartley, what happened wasn't your fault. Roy's powers altered how your brain functions, took away your ability to make rational decisions. You aren't at fault for that. And you certainly don't deserve to be arrested for it."

"I used the gloves to destroy and I... I hurt Barry with them. Those were meant to help him and I..." Hartley's voice choked off. "How can you even stand to look at me, after what I told you?"

"Nothing you said to me was all that bad," Cisco told him quietly. "As angry as you were at Dr. Wells and self-loathing as you were towards yourself, the worst things you said to me were the same old tired insults about my clothing and hair. And I know you secretly like those, you just wanted someone to take your anger out on. So we're fine, Hartley."

"I told you about the flaw in the accelerator. That I did nothing about," Hartley retorted. "The reason why Ronnie's dead. Your best friend, Cisco... he's dead and it's my fault."

"It's not your fault. And you didn't do nothing about it. You told Dr. Wells and trusted him when he said it would hold long enough for the initial test. What happened to Ronnie..." Cisco squeezed Hartley's hands again and shut his eyes for a moment, taking a breath and stealing himself.

"I shut the door," Cisco told Hartley, opening his eyes again. "I shut the door to the pipeline during the lock down. When we realized the cortex controls weren't working and the overload had to be stopped from the pipeline itself, Ronnie ran there first. I... I hesitated to follow because you were in so much pain, but Ronnie needed help and there wasn't anything I could do for you. So I followed after him and he... he told me to wait two minutes and if he wasn't back to shut the door. Even though we were in lock down and once the door shut, we wouldn't be able to reopen it until... until lock down ended.

"I tried to argue with him, but it would've wasted too much time and... so I agreed. And I waited. Two minutes. And then I shut the door. He made it back, a few seconds before everything blew up. He said I did the right thing, not waiting. Because it wouldn't have sealed in time and... he told me to tell Caitlin how much he loved her." Cisco's voice shook and he let go of one of Hartley's hands in order to wipe at the tears on his face. "I've been blaming myself for Ronnie's death. You've been blaming yourself. I bet Dr. Wells has been blaming himself too."

"Probably," Hartley agreed, crying a little himself.

"But it was just... shitty circumstances, okay?"

"Okay," Hartley agrees in a small voice. "How, um... how much of that did you hear, Caitlin?"

"Pretty much all of it," she said, and Cisco jumped, turning to look guiltily at the doorway where Caitlin was also rubbing at a tear stained face. She came over and hugged each of them in turn. "Ronnie must have known going in that two minutes wouldn't be long enough, Cisco. But he knew you'd never agree to just shut the door behind him without waiting first. And Hartley... I'd have trusted Dr. Wells judgement too."

"I still feel like I should have pushed harder. I should've trusted my instincts instead of..." he trailed off awkwardly. Instead of trusting Dr. Wells to be right all the time. Which... they all did, to some degree or another.

"Another round of scans and then I'm letting Cisco take you home, okay Hartley?" Caitlin asked. "And if its not Cisco who takes you home, it'll be me. I'm very concerned that this could cause you to experience a depressive episode and, doctor's orders, you are not to be left alone during your recovery."

"I'm fine with Cisco taking me home," Hartley said immediately. Caitlin smirked at him for the word choice and Hartley actually blushed.

Cisco smiled at that. 

A few scans later and Caitlin was ready to let Hartley head home, but Cisco... had one last thing he needed to do. Or say, as it were.

"Caitlin. I should have told you about..." he trailed off awkwardly. It was too hard to say twice in one morning.

"I knew, Cisco. The pipeline door can only be shut from the outside." Caitlin hugged him tightly. "I just didn't know you blamed yourself like that. Please don't. What happened wasn't your fault. Don't let Hartley blame himself, either."

"Promise," Cisco told her and then went to fetch the keys for a STAR Labs van. He doubted Dr. Wells would mind and, well... he didn't want to take Hartley through the damaged main lobby to wait for an uber right now.

* * *

Eobard surveyed the damage to the STAR Labs lobby.

It could have gone far worse.

Before he recreated the accelerator incident, Hartley had been indispensable for his genius. The accelerator had been ready to go a full year before Eobard's initial estimates, all down to Hartley's utter brilliance. It had made Eobard wish he could take Hartley back to the twenty-fifth century with him, as Hartley would love it there. Would probably catch on to the advancements made in physics over the centuries in a heartbeat.

Certainly Hartley had found the necessary 'flaws' in the accelerator that Eobard had been counting on being too well disguised to be noticed. Thankfully Hartley hadn't seen the full extent of the problem, or Eobard might have had to fire Hartley and that? That would've been a tragedy.

But now? Post accelerator incident? Hartley was even more indispensable than ever. He'd become the face of their meta-outreach and losing Hartley would lose them the good will of the metas who were hoping for a cure... and unwittingly giving Eobard access to their genome and powers.

Farooq Gibran's powers and DNA, for example, were truly fascinating. Eobard rather suspected the man could temporarily depower a speedster. It would be interesting to find an excuse to push the man over the edge and turn his powers against Barry. And now, with a sample of the Rainbow Raider's DNA... perhaps another accident could be arranged.

There was no telling yet who else might be lured in by Hartley's heartfelt good will.

Regardless, it was time to start pushing Barry to go faster in earnest. Test the limits of his powers.

A year ahead of schedule was still far too many centuries away from home.

* * *

Barry curled up against Len's chest that evening, feeling very languid and peaceful and very, very comfortable. Len had taken him apart until he'd been vibrating and begging and it had been just what Barry'd needed after a long day spent arguing over how current laws applied to meta human related cases and where the law would currently fall all too short.

He'd gone into forensics instead of law with good reason.

His visit to see Hartley after work had been tough, too. He'd stayed with Hartley during dinner while Cisco went home to pack enough to stay at Hartley's for a few days until they were sure the physicist was recovering alright. Hartley had flipped back and forth between quiet apathy and tearful self-loathing over what happened and when Barry had finally made it home, he'd collapsed into Len's embrace with a few tears of his own.

"Want to talk about it now?" Len asked, dragging his fingers ever so slowly up Barry's spine.

If Len kept that up, Barry'd be ready for round two instead of a chat.

"Hartley's doing better. He remembers everything that happened and is upset with himself over it, but... I think he's going to be okay. He's got Cisco watching out for him. Maybe they'll finally give in to all that belligerent UST they've got going for them." Barry smiled as Len chuckled at that. "I'm probably going to wind up called into a few more meetings regarding the CCPD's meta-human related policies and the DA's office's policies on how meta related crimes are prosecuted. Because I'm the only known meta in the CCPD and know the most about what sort of potential powers are out there."

"I'm certainly happy to help out with your stress relief on those evenings," Len teased, lightly kissing Barry's neck.

"Mmmm... got any stress of your own needing relief?"

"I'll let you know."

"I keep thinking about how easily this could have gone badly for Hartley or for Roy. And that we should've been better prepared for something to go wrong with someone's powers like this. Not that I know how we should've been better prepared, I just..."

"Don't like seeing your friends get hurt?"

"Exactly."

"Get some sleep, Barry. Tomorrow's likely to be another long day."

* * *

**Epilogue**

"It's been three days and I'm going stir crazy and I don't care if it's how Caitlin shows her love, I cannot stand the thought of yet another damn brain scan." Hartley collapsed dramatically onto the couch.

"We could go see a movie," Cisco offered. "See what's showing at the dollar theater?"

"Ugh."

"Wander the park?"

"Meh."

"Bookstore?"

"Eh..."

"You know, for someone going stir crazy, you don't seem to be in a hurry to actually get out of your apartment." Cisco walked over and tapped Hartley on the forehead. "What's going on in there?"

"A desire to go anywhere but here and a total lack of energy to actually follow through," Hartley responded. "That's what's going on in there. I hate being low on spoons. When am I gonna be okay again?"

"Soon," Cisco promised. "You're already doing loads better today."

Hartley smiled. "I am, aren't I?" He sighed softly and drummed his fingers along the couch. "I had depression in college. All the stress from classes and being closeted around my parents and I just... couldn't handle it. So I started seeing a therapist through the campus health clinic."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Anxiety and depression issues, was completely unsurprised. Took some anti-depressants for a while, but after I came out to my parents and started my graduate program I was less stressed. Did a trial run easing off my meds and ended up managing okay without them so I stopped entirely. But all this... makes me think maybe its time I started therapy again."

"If that's something you want to pursue, you've got my support," Cisco promised, nudging at Hartley's shoulder to get him to sit up so that he could sit down. When he did sit down though, he got Hartley's head in his lap. "You were supposed to sit up."

"You're comfy," Hartley retorted, a touch petulantly.

Amused, Cisco let it go.

"Would you go on a date with me?" Hartley asked and Cisco sucked in a sharp breath, startled. "I'm sorry," Hartley sat up abruptly, starting to pull away. "That was... I shouldn't have..."

"Yes." Cisco put a finger on Hartley's nose, grinning when the other man not only went silent, but cross-eyed. "I'd love to go on a date with you."

Hartley beamed and then ducked his head, embarrassed. "I don't think I've ever had my brain to mouth filter failing work out in my favor before."

"What?" Cisco was trying so hard not to laugh at him.

"I was thinking that I wanted to ask you out and trying to work up the courage to actually do it and didn't realize I'd actually said it out loud until you, uh, reacted to what I said."

Helplessly, Cisco lost his internal struggle and started giggling. "You are ridiculous. Come here, I want to kiss you."

Blissful grin on his face, Hartley complied.

* * *

Len nudged the shards of the broken lamp again, willing the small piece of tech amidst the remains to disappear.

It did not.

Giving in, Len reached down and, gently, brushed the shards away to pick it up and verify that it was, indeed, what he thought it was. A small bug. A microphone.

Placing the wireless device on the table, Len glanced around and then headed for the most obvious hiding spot for a camera. The air vent up near the top of the wall, however, was blessedly camera free. The next spot he checked, however, was not.

Honestly, Len hadn't been too worried about the lamp. Barry was more likely to be concerned that Len might've hurt himself cleaning it up. But the bug changed things. Was it there because of Barry's work at the CCPD, his work with STAR Labs... or because of Len?

Sighing, Len left the apartment, took the elevator to the ground floor, and picked a random direction outside to walk in. There was a small park nearby that he ended up heading to and, once settled on bench, he called Barry and directed his boyfriend to go outside first before they spoke.

"Do you think there are any at Lisa's apartment?" Barry asked, once Len relayed what he'd found.

"Maybe. I don't know. Haven't checked yet. She's next on my list of people to call. I'm at the park down the block because I didn't want to risk that her place is bugged too." He paused a beat, "you should check your lab... but you might also have Joe have his house checked."

"Because if those places are bugged then this is about me and not something from your past?"

"More like something from my father's past, but basically? Yes." Len let out a shaky breath. Lewis Snart had more than a few enemies when he died. Certainly no one who'd known the man mourned his passing. But a few of them might consider taking their dislike of Lewis out on Len now that he was out of jail. Unlikely, given the years that had passed, but not impossible.

"I need to take this to Captain Singh."

"I'll let Lisa know what's going on. We'll probably both meet you at the precinct."

"Alright." Barry hesitated a second, then said, "love you, Len."

Len smiled. It was still new, saying those words. "I know."

"Han Solo," Barry teased back, sounding pleased.

The words were hard enough for Len to say in private, but out in public - even a mostly empty park like this? Thankfully, they were both _Star Wars_ nerds. Barry was the sort to appreciate the reference and know exactly what Len meant by it.

"I'll see you soon," Len promised, then ended the call. He hesitated a moment over calling Lisa. He really should call her next, but...

Len dialed a different number before hers. A gruff voice greeted him after the first ring. "Hey, Mick," Len replied. "I think I may be needing a favor soon."

**Author's Note:**

> This won't be Roy's last appearance, though he probably won't show up in the next installment. And, yes, there was a reference to Frost in Caitlin's PoV, though she's only to be hinted at for now. :)


End file.
